WOD Wisdom: How did you do in the Open?

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The CrossFit Open has come and gone and we all survived.

We made it through the overhead squats and thrusters. Some people hit a PR in the clean and jerk, while others got their first HSPU. Somehow we all made it through the Open without doing one single burpee. That’s still hard to believe.

Now the question comes, ‘How did you do in the Open?’

Well that’s hard to answer when you were number 75,396 in the world or 6,725 in the region. It’s hard to put in persecutive whether that’s good or not. So how do you measure success in the CrossFit Open? Here’s a few ways:

1. Compare results from previous years

If you’ve done the CrossFit Open before, you can compare how you did this year from last year or two years ago. Don’t compare the specific placement as the number of participants has increased each year and that would skew the data. Instead, compare your percentile. If you were 7,625 out of 18,323 in 2014 (41 percent) and this year you were 8,123 out of 21,622 (37 percent), then you know you’ve improved. Remember, the top CrossFitters in the world that qualify for the Games are in the less than 1 percent.

2. You signed up and did the Open

Let’s be honest, it takes some guts to sign-up for the CrossFit Open. To put your name in a worldwide competition takes some courage. Just signing up for the Open and doing the grueling workouts every week is an accomplishment.

3. You did something unknowable

One of the cool things about the CrossFit Open is seeing people do things they have never done before or never imagined they could do.

We had people get their first muscle up, their first handstand pushup, PR their clean and jerk. It was a pretty neat sight to see.

4. You posted a score every week

This was the first year they had a scaled division in the CrossFit Open, which meant everyone was able to post a score of at least one rep if they performed the workout. That meant some people did all scaled workouts and some did all Rx workouts. It also allowed people to bounce back and fourth from scaled to Rx each week.

Posting a score next to your name, which everyone in the world can see, takes some courage. You have to be willing to said I did my best and here’s what I did.

5 . You had fun

For five weeks there was excitement in the air. We all anxiously awaited what the workout would be each week and when we found out we were terrified of how we were going to do it. We strategized with our friends, we cheered on people we just met and gave high fives and fist bumps as congratulations.

The CrossFit Open was never about winning it. It was about challenging us. It was about pushing each other to the limits. It was about having fun. So when someone asks you ‘How did you do in the Open?’ just tell them ‘I had fun.’

— Coach Brandon